


HQ800, or Single in the Capital

by oriolegirl



Series: R856, or Engineering a Relationship [1]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-09-15
Updated: 2007-09-15
Packaged: 2017-10-02 17:50:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oriolegirl/pseuds/oriolegirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sheppard is chief of staff for Congresswoman Weir; McKay is a researcher at the Congressional Research Service.</p>
            </blockquote>





	HQ800, or Single in the Capital

John Sheppard, chief of staff for Representative Elizabeth Weir (D - California 17th), was looking over the schedule for the week when there was a knock on his open door. Evan Lorne, the office manager, was standing just inside his office.

Evan ran Elizabeth's office with military precision yet he had a knack for handling people. John gave thanks everyday for him because he was spared from dealing with most personnel issues. Senators kept trying to poach him, but Evan refused to leave. John suspected Evan ultimately wanted John's job -- and he'd probably have it before too long.

"Got a minute?" Evan asked.

John put the schedule down. "Sure. What's up?" The fact that Evan closed the door before taking a seat was not a good sign.

"I sent a staffer over to the Congressional Research Service with the request for the NASA report. He came back incoherent, request clutched in his hand. He said if we send him back there again, he'll quit."

John grimaced. Not because they might lose a staffer; those were a dime a dozen on the Hill. No, it was the possibility that the kid had insulted someone at the Library of Congress. People still whispered about the time ten years ago when someone on Senator Evans' staff had questioned the intelligence of one of the librarians. Suddenly, reports were delivered the day before committee meetings instead of weeks before. Questions were answered as briefly as possible and without any explanatory material. This went on until the Senator gave an impromptu press conference in which he praised the staff at LoC for the important role they played in the governing of the country.

"I called Radek Zelenka, in the Library's Science, Technology, and Business Division," Evan said. "After swearing in Czech, he said this Rodney McKay, the astronomy and astrophysics specialist, was a genius with no tolerance for stupidity. But his bark is mostly that. So if we send someone over with," Evan made air quotes, "a 'modicum of intelligence,' we should be ok."

John took in Evan's grin and said, "I'll go."

"You sure? Because I don't mind going over there."

John knew Evan just wanted another chance to gossip with Zelenka. He's still not sure how they met, but between them they seem to know everything about everybody. John shook his head. "It's fine. Got to be more interesting than paperwork, right?"

Evan laughed.

~*~

Rodney McKay was rifling through the piles on his desk, looking for the preprint that ridiculous man Sanderson had sent him. It had arrived only a couple of days ago, so it had to be near the top. There were times he really regretted leaving academia and letting Radek convince him to work for the Congressional Research Service. It was a toss-up which was more annoying: dealing with idiots like Sanderson who were in love with their pet astrophysical theories which were quite clearly wrong or having to deal with politicians and their lackeys.

"Dr. McKay?"

"Yes. What?" Rodney looked up and found himself staring at the most amazingly hot man standing in his doorway. He was wearing a black suit with a white shirt and a gray tie. Yet despite the crispness of his clothing, his hair was a mess.

"I'm John Sheppard, chief of staff for Representative Weir. We sent a staffer over earlier today with a report request."

"Oh, that idiot was yours? He didn't look like he could define the term aerodynamic, let alone spell it." Rodney cocked his head. "You could probably spell it."

Sheppard slid his hands into his pants pockets and smirked. "I can spell it and define it."

Rodney snorted. The man was hot, but he was undoubtedly a political hack who probably wouldn't know gravity if it bit him on the ass. God, he hated Washington.

"I have a degree in engineering, you know."

"From some backwater community college, no doubt," Rodney scoffed.

"UC San Diego, actually."

Rodney was taken aback. "That's a good school." Maybe not a political hack then. Although with that hair, Rodney wouldn't be surprised if he'd skipped class to go surfing.

Sheppard grinned. "Yes, it is. So, about that report."

"Give me the request," Rodney said, holding out his hand.

Sheppard moved further into Rodney's office. Reaching into his suit pocket, he pulled out a sheet of paper.

Rodney frowned while quickly reading it. "NASA again."

"The Congresswoman is a supporter of science. She just wants to make sure that NASA will actually do some science if their funding levels are increased."

Rodney sneered at the thought. The people in charge in both Houston and Canaveral were idiots. Only the folks in Greenbelt and at JPL had any sense. "I'll get you the report a couple of weeks before the committee meeting."

"I'm sure you will. Thanks, McKay." Sheppard walked out and Rodney watched him until he was out of sight.

~*~

It had been two days and John couldn't stop thinking about Rodney McKay. He was stocky and had thinning hair. But his eyes were piercingly blue. His hands were incredibly expressive. And that wide, crooked mouth. John was trying very hard not to imagine what those hands and that mouth could do to his body. Luckily, a voice calling his name interrupted his musings before they could get too far.

"Have you heard a thing I've said?" Teyla Emmagen, their legislative director asked.

John smiled a little sheepishly. Teyla knew he got bored hearing about budgetary matters.

She tipped her head and studied him. "Did you meet someone?"

It was freaky, they way she did that. He glanced over at Ronon Dex, who lifted an eyebrow. For a communications director, he did more speaking with body language than with actual words.

"I am very glad, John," Teyla said. "You haven't been happy since you ended things with Cam."

John winced. That had been an ill-advised relationship. He should have known better than to get involved with a military man. Shaking off those memories, he said, "I don't even know if McKay's into guys."

It was hardly a secret in Washington that John was gay. When he was a teenager, he'd decided that it wasn't worth trying to hide who he was. That decision cost him a career flying multi-million dollar aircraft, but he was pretty sure he was happier for it.

"You should call him." Ronon stood up. "I'm hungry. Time for lunch."

Teyla smiled. "Yes, of course." Standing, she said, "John, we will review the budget proposal later this afternoon."

John let his head drop onto his desk. Not only would she not let him avoid that, but she and Ronon were also going to want a blow by blow description of his phone call to Rodney. Oh god, they were probably going to tell Elizabeth, too.

John stifled the urge to bang his head against the desk. Instead, he sat up, took a deep breath, and reached for the phone. It couldn't hurt to ask how the report was coming, right?

~*~

Rodney was hardly surprised when his phone rang just before 4pm. John -- he still found it amazing that he was on a first name basis with the hot stranger that had appeared in his office three weeks before -- had taken to calling him at lunch time and even though John was in California, he was still calling at lunch time.

"Sheppard, are you actually working or are you hanging out on the beach?"

The answering voice was disgustingly cheerful. "How'd you know it was me, Rodney?"

Rodney snorted. "Maybe because you've been calling me every day to check on your report." Actually, after a brief question about the NASA report, they usually wound up talking about everything but the report.

"So how's it coming along?"

"About the same as the last time you asked. Proper analysis takes time and requires thoughtful consideration."

"Are you saying you're thoughtful, Rodney? 'Cause that's not really the impression I got."

Rodney spluttered. "I am a very thoughtful person! Just ask --." And he paused, because he couldn't really think of anyone who would describe him that way. Truthfully, he was rather selfish. But--. "Hey, that's not the kind of thoughtful I meant!"

John laughed. Then his voice got low. "Oh, shit."

"What? What's wrong? Is it an earthquake?" Rodney was already pulling up the USGS web site on his computer. He'd bookmarked the Northern California earthquake page last week when John told him the Congresswoman was going to be visiting her home district.

"Ex-boyfriend inbound. Hold on." Then Rodney could faintly hear him saying, "General. Colonel. Good to see you again." There were other voices, then John came back. "Gotta go, McKay. I'll talk to you later."

And Rodney was left with the phone buzzing in his ear, wondering if that meant John was gay or if it was just wishful thinking on his part.

~*~

"So," Rodney ventured, about 10 minutes into the phone call, "ex-boyfriend?"

John had been waiting for that ever since he'd hung up on Rodney the day before. He was nervous. Not because he was in the closet or ashamed of being gay. Nor was he worried about Rodney being homophobic. No, he was worried that Rodney might be straight. He wasn't sure how he'd handle that and he really didn't want to find out. "Yeah."

"The colonel or the general?"

"The colonel. Though we broke up before he got promoted." John winced in memory of that particular argument which had really been the end of their relationship.

"Typical," Rodney snorted. "Probably more interested in his career than anything else."

"You have something against the military, McKay?"

"They're all mindless grunts who refuse to believe that brains could ever be more useful than brawn."

John smirked, glad that Rodney couldn't see his face. "Guess I won't introduce you to my father then."

Rodney spluttered. "Your father's in the military?"

"Air Force. Though he's retired now."

"Obviously he must have some intelligence to have produced you. Unless it's your mother who has all the brains."

John had to laugh at that. His mother was an ex-hippie artist who still found lighting a joint to be the only good preparation for painting. "He designed planes."

"See, see," Rodney said. "All that talent, wasted! His time would have been better spent designing commercial aircraft. Have you ever flown coach?"

John listened as Rodney went off on a rant about the airline industry, relieved that Rodney seemed to be okay with John being gay and finding it ironic that he was sitting at SFO waiting for a commercial flight back to DC.

~*~

Rodney headed over to the Science, Technology, and Business Division in search of Zelenka. The man seemed to know everything about everybody and Rodney found himself in the strange position of wanting to know about John Sheppard. The man was maddeningly silent on personal topics but he would let slip these comments that just made Rodney long to know more. Things like, ex-boyfriend, father in the military, engineering degree!

Radek, of course, owed him. Rodney would never have subjected himself to library school if Radek hadn't extolled the virtues of the Library of Congress and convinced him that he needed to get a master's degree in library science before even considering applying for a job with the Congressional Research Service. Rodney wasn't at all sure that it had been necessary -- all of the skills he was using in his job were things he'd learned while getting his PhD in astrophysics -- and there was a year wasted, in Pittsburgh of all places, that he'd never get back.

Rodney found him at the water cooler talking to that horrid Sora woman from the European Division. "You," he said, waving at Radek, "are taking me out to lunch."

Radek pushed up his glasses. "And why would I do that, McKay?"

"Because you owe me."

"Still not over that, hmm?" Radek muttered something in Czech.

Rodney rolled his eyes. "And I need information."

"Oh, well then, of course you will buy me lunch, Rodney."

He smirked at Sora who was glaring at him. But then he realized what Radek had said. "Hey!"

~*~

John was reviewing the budget for the Washington office -- Evan could do almost everything related to the office, but only John and Elizabeth could determine salaries for Evan, Ronon, and Teyla -- when he heard raised voices coming from the reception area.

"No, I don't have an appointment. But I don't see--"

John opened his door to find Rodney haranguing Chuck, their secretary. "McKay."

Rodney whirled around. "Thank god, a sensible person at last."

"What are you doing here, Rodney?"

"What? Oh." Rodney held up an inter-office envelope. "I finished the report."

John slouched against the doorjamb. "You didn't have to hand-deliver it, you know."

"I know, but --" Rodney looked down.

John was suddenly aware that everyone was watching them. Evan was smirking, the bastard. John straightened. "Let's go into my office."

Rodney started. "Oh, yes. Yes, that would be --" He broke off when John put a hand on his elbow.

As soon as the door closed behind them, John asked, "What's going on, McKay?"

Rodney flushed. "As I said, I have the report."

John cocked his head. "And?"

"Are you busy on Saturday?" Rodney asked quickly. "I thought we could go to the Udvar-Hazy Center."

"Are you asking me out on a date?" John was trying to keep a straight face, but inside he was bouncing because airplanes. Airplanes and the Space Shuttle. This was so cool. The last time John had gone to the Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center, parts of it were still undergoing construction.

Rodney stared at him. "I thought --. But no, of course not. Sorry."

John reached out to stop him from leaving. "I'd love to go."

"Really?"   
John had been waiting until the report was done to ask Rodney out. He hadn't wanted there to be any perceived conflict of interest. But Rodney had beaten him to it. John grinned. "Yeah."

"Ok, well, I'll pick you up at 9:30."

~*~

Rodney was staring glumly at the contents of his closet. He had no idea what he was going to wear tomorrow morning. Everything was either too dressy, not dressy enough, or just plain slovenly. He almost wished his sister lived closer so she could take pity on him and tell him what to wear. Rodney was holding a brown shirt up to his chest and looking in the mirror when the phone rang.

"Hey, Mer."

Speak of the devil, he thought. "I really wish you wouldn't call me that, Jeannie."

"But it's your name. What else would I call you?"

Rodney sighed in frustration. He'd been trying to get her to call him Rodney for 25 years. So far he hadn't succeeded. "Why are you calling?"

"I just wanted to remind you that Caleb and I are coming down with Madison."

Rodney's eyes widened in shock. He'd forgotten about that. "Oh my god. You're not coming this weekend are you? Are you trying to ruin what small glimmer of a social life I actually have?"

Jeannie laughed. "Breathe, Mer. We're coming next weekend."

"Oh thank god." Rodney sank onto his bed in relief.

"So," Jeannie said coyly, "do you have a date?"

Groaning, Rodney fell back and closed his eyes. "Yes. I have a date. Tomorrow, in fact. And I have no idea what I'm going to wear!"

"Wear the blue shirt I gave you for your birthday last year. He won't be able to keep his eyes off of you."

That was a nice thought, having all of John's attention focused on him. Unrealistic, but nice. "I highly doubt that. If there's a choice between an airplane and me, I'm quite sure the airplane will win."

"Trust me, Mer."

"Ok, I'll wear it." After all, he had nothing to lose.

~*~

They started in the space hangar, even though it had killed John to walk past the World War II aircraft without stopping to look. On the other hand, Space Shuttle. Rodney was gazing reverently at the Cal Tech 2.2 Micron Infrared Telescope and John just had to ask. "So why aren't you at Cal Tech or Hawaii or somewhere?"

Rodney frowned. "I was. But do you know who populates academic departments? Idiots like Sanderson who is always sending me his latest preprint even though I keep telling him that he is so very very wrong."

"And I'm sure you tell him in great detail just how wrong he is," John said, fighting to keep the laughter out of his voice.

"Of course I do. For all the good it does." Rodney shook his head. "It didn't take me long to see that I wasn't cut out for the politics of tenure and the winning of grants."

John stuck his hands in his jeans pockets and rocked back on his heels. "So, librarianship, huh?"

"Oh please." Rodney waved a hand in dismissal. "That's not going to last. I never expected it to."

John cocked his head. "Then what are you going to do?"

"I don't know. Something will come along." Rodney shrugged. "I'll probably flee back to Canada. Your country is very unenlightened about a lot of things, you know."

"My country?"

"I'm Canadian."

John frowned. "But don't you have to be an American citizen to work at the Library of Congress?"

"Oh yes, yes. I have dual citizenship. Accident of birth," Rodney hurriedly explained.

"Huh." John made a mental note to ask about that later; he was sure there was a story there. "You thinking about fleeing north anytime soon?"

Rodney squinted at him. "No, not soon."

"Ok. Good," John nodded. "Glad to hear it."

Rodney frowned. "Really?"

"Yeah." John grinned. "I like you, McKay. Hate to have you disappear on me." But it was nice to know that Rodney also wasn't planning to stay in Washington forever. John bounced a little, looking back the way they'd come. "Can we go back to the World War II aircraft? They have a really sweet Hawker Hurricane."

"Oh my god," Rodney said in disgust. "You're drooling over a 50 year old fighter plane!"

~*~

Rodney hadn't really been sure what his date with John Sheppard would be like, but the reality was nothing like he'd imagined.

He'd known John liked planes, he just hadn't realized how much. More than once, John had reached out like he wanted to run his hands along the bodies of the planes, feeling what they were capable of doing. It made Rodney mad that the U.S. was so backwards that John couldn't be flying ridiculously expensive aircraft for the military. But Rodney was also selfishly glad that John couldn't because then they probably wouldn't have met.

Rodney had been a little worried when they'd discovered that the only place to eat was McDonald's. But he'd been pleasantly surprised when John fell on his Quarter Pounder like a starving man. "I go to too many parties and dinners with food made by French chefs. Sauces." John had shuddered. "I hate sauces." Rodney had then ranted about how the French had ruined food and made John laugh.

During the IMAX movie, John had taken Rodney's hand as soon as the lights had gone out and he hadn't let go until the movie was over. Rodney had expected that John would kiss him at the end of the day, but he hadn't. "I'm not that kind of boy, McKay," he'd said, hands in his pockets and a smile on his face. "Call me tomorrow and we'll make plans for lunch."

Now Rodney was lying in bed, unable to sleep, imagining what John's hands would feel like moving across his body, waiting impatiently for morning. Looking at the clock again, he said out loud, "What the hell. It's tomorrow." He reached for the phone.

~*~

John punched in Rodney's number, then started sorting through the piles on his desk. "Hey," he said when Rodney answered.

"Why are you calling? We're supposed to be having lunch in an hour."

John sighed. "Yeah, about that. I'm going to have to bail on you, McKay."

"Oh my god," Rodney said, his voice rising, "you're breaking up with me."

John had to laugh. They'd been officially going out for only a couple of weeks, but between John's meetings and Rodney's family coming to town, they'd barely seen each other. "I'm not breaking up with you."

"Then what?"

Evan was lurking in his door and John waved him in. "There's a problem at the home office. I need to fly out there to take care of it."

"You have flunkies," Rodney spluttered. "Can't one of them go to California?"

John would like nothing more than to foist this off on someone else. Unfortunately, this wasn't something he could dump on Evan and Elizabeth had an important committee meeting coming up. "Afraid not, Rodney. Look, I'll call you when I get back, ok?"

"I'll hunt you down and make your life miserable if you don't."

"I know you will, McKay." Evan was laughing silently at him and John grinned. "I've gotta go. One of my flunkies is here."

Once John hung up, they both turned serious. "What do you need me to do?" Evan asked.

"You're going to have to ride herd on Elizabeth. Make sure she stays on schedule. Or as close to it as possible. The Science and Technology meeting is in two days. Teyla should have reviewed the important points with her, but double-check that she's gone over the NASA report and the documents they sent over. I'll try to call her, but," John shrugged.

"We'll be fine, John," Evan said. "Good luck."

John grimaced. He hated dealing with personnel issues.

~*~

There was nothing like baked goods to drown your sorrows. Pastries, muffins, cookies. Pies. John was supposed to have returned from California the night before but Rodney hadn't heard from him and now all he could think was that John really was breaking up with him.

Rodney was standing at the corner outside the Dupont Circle Metro station, trying to decide which of his favorite bakeries to go to, when he heard someone call his name. It was John, of course; no one else drawled his name like that. "You're back." Then he looked closer. "You look terrible."

John grimaced, running a hand across the back of his neck. "Yeah. I didn't get home 'til almost 4am. I couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd go to Raku, get something spicy in the hopes of waking up a little. You want to come with me?"

Rodney didn't mind Raku -- their food was bland enough if you didn't add any of the spicy condiments they left on the table -- but he still had baked goods on the brain. "Actually, I was going to the bakery."

Like he could read Rodney's mind, John said quietly, "I was going to call you, you know." John bumped his shoulder. "How 'bout we get something from the bakery and take it back to my place?"

Rodney's mouth fell open a little and he stared. Apparently John wasn't breaking up with him after all. "Yes. Yes, ok. That sounds good."

And it was good, until the combination of baked goods and lazily making out on the couch relaxed John enough that he fell asleep. Rodney got him into bed and sat watching him sleep until his stomach reminded him that he really hadn't had much in the way of lunch. Searching John's refrigerator, Rodney discovered he didn't have anything. Not even a frozen pizza. Rodney took John's keys and went in search of the nearest grocery store.

~*~

John knew he had a silly grin on his face. He couldn't help it. And the fact that everyone he passed on his way to the office gave him a wide berth just made it bigger; he really liked making them think he was up to something.

Elizabeth was in the outer office talking with Ronon when he walked in. She pressed her lips together, obviously trying to repress her smile. "How was your Sunday, John?"

John's grin got bigger and probably a little dopier. Rodney kind of had that effect on him. "It was good. Very good."

Ronon smirked and John shook his head because it wasn't what Ronon was clearly thinking. "He put me to bed and when I was asleep, he went out and restocked my refrigerator."

"That's really sweet," Elizabeth said. He could tell she was trying not to laugh.

But he hadn't even told them the best part yet. Bouncing a little, he said, "He left me a note telling me I was a moron."

Ronon raised an eyebrow. Elizabeth looked confused. But that was ok because John knew what it meant. Rodney called a lot of people 'stupid' and 'idiot' and it was an insult. But 'moron,' that was a term of affection. Rodney maybe -- probably -- loved him.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [](http://community.livejournal.com/anotheratlantis/profile)[](http://community.livejournal.com/anotheratlantis/)**anotheratlantis**, prompt "John Sheppard is chief of staff for Senator Weir and needs access to research materials in the Library of Congress. Rodney McKay is a cranky librarian at the LoC who John encounters."  
> Much thanks, as always, to my fabulous beta [](http://silver-cyanne.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://silver-cyanne.livejournal.com/)**silver_cyanne**.


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